Sea and sky twenty years later

I feel like a castaway but I’m not afraidYou and me and a couple of dusty volumesI wanna be your Messiah but there’s no wayI feel the tide roll in around us

You be the sea and I’ll be the skyI want you with me now don’t wonder whyYou be the sea and I’ll be the skyEndeavor with me now don’t wonder why

This love’s like a labyrinth but I’m not afraidYou and me and a strong sense of foreverLike the old Swiss Family Robinson let’s drift awayIf we go down at least we’ll drown together(I can’t forget you)

You be the sea and I’ll be the skyI want you with me now don’t wonder whyYou be the sea and I’ll be the skyEndeavor with me now don’t wonder why

It’s a little like thisIt’s a little like being afraidIt’s a little like yesterdayThough I don’t mean to invade

It was only a few decades ago, but sometimes it seems like yesterday. When their music comes up on shuffle, I’m twenty something years old with big dreams and little experience. The band I went to hear on Friday nights at Sudsy Malone’s in Cincinnati were first acquaintances and then friends. Well, friends of friends at least.

Over the Rhine still exist as Karin Bergquist (vocals, guitar and other instruments, I think) and Linford Detweiler (bass and piano and pretty much any instrument he set his mind to playing) and various musicians complementing them for tours and recording and whatnot.

Back in the proverbial day, the band was a quartet with Karin, Linford, as well as Ric Hordinski (guitars) and Brian Kelley (drums). I enjoyed quite a few local bands when I lived near the banks of the Ohio River, but Over the Rhine I liked the most.

This song perfectly describes the male-female dichotomy. Mother Earth…Father Sky.

Something about these beautiful autumn days made me think about their music. ‘It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play‘. Taught them to play, indeed.